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The subject invention relates generally to data processing and more particularly to a method and apparatus for high speed parallel accessing of data stored at a number of remote heterogeneous sites.
Present technology is witnessing the development of large remote databases or xe2x80x9cdata warehousesxe2x80x9d, as well as rapid expansion of the Internet and proliferation of corporate intranets. Demand is growing for increasingly large and rapid data transfers involving streaming video, visualization graphics and large data warehouse downloads over such new network protocols as the Fast Ethernet and Gigabyte Ethernet. The data which it would be desirable to access may be stored across heterogeneous sites, i.e., sites which contain different types of database systems or other data containers. Hence the data which may need to be accessed may be referred to as xe2x80x9cheterogeneous data.xe2x80x9d.
At the same time, there is constant pressure to simplify the user interface to a vast array of components and data. While individual components in a particular solution are often easy to use, combining them in a complete solution still presents extremely complex problems to the user.
The invention provides automatic parallel accessing, extraction and manipulation (e.g., sorting) of data from multiple heterogeneous data sites in response to a simple query or request from the user. A query may constitute a search or sort request or a myriad of other queries. The invention further involves the use of an interpreter or xe2x80x9cAgentxe2x80x9d, which receives a query or request, e.g., in the form of a JAVA script, and may for example, break the script into new scripts respectively appropriate for each node of a distributed system.
The invention further provides a method for metadata-based high level abstraction of a federation of clustered or distributed heterogeneous databases and/or data files in which the federation of databases is referenced or treated as a single object, as well as an apparatus for parallel data access and concurrent execution of object methods across the distributed data. The single object is referenced hereafter as the xe2x80x9cdata source object,xe2x80x9d sometimes abbreviated to simply xe2x80x9cdata object.xe2x80x9d
Still other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein is shown and described only the preferred embodiment of the invention, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive, and what is intended to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims. The present invention will become apparent when taken in conjunction with the following description and attached drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts, and which drawings form a part of this application.